Richard Pickman is a great artist, a painter of gloom, a portrayer of a legion of demons. But what does he paint—his fantasies, or portraits from life?
It is believed that this is one of the stories because of which Lovecraft was called the modern Poe.
A trip to Boston provided the impetus for writing this story, which speaks of tunnels that truly existed in the city. One of them was discovered in 1840.